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Building Trust over the Internet: Design and Prototype of an Advocacy Website by Sha Ma Submitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology May 20, 2004 Copyright 2004 Sha Ma. All rights reserved. The author hereby grants to M.I.T. permission to reproduce and distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis and to grant others the right to do so. Author Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science May 20, 2004 Certified by Glen L. Urban David Austin Professor Of Marketing Thesis Supervisor Accepted by Arthur C. Smith Chairman, Department Committee on Graduate Theses MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE] OF TECHNOLOGY I JUL 2 0 2004 LI BRARIES BARKER Building Trust over the Internet: Design and Prototype of an Advocacy Website by Sha Ma Submitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science May 20, 2004 In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Abstract The Internet has empowered consumers with information, options, and a simple mechanism for transaction. Although the Internet has not completely replaced traditional shopping methods, it has brought about a change in the balance of power between suppliers and consumers. Many suppliers have responded to this change by adapting their marketing strategies from traditional push-based practices to more consumer centered trusted-based methodologies. In the wireless industry, Qwest Communications International, Inc. has taken a leading step in building consumer trust through the development of an advocacy website to help consumers select the best service packages available to them. In collaboration with Qwest, the MIT e-business Center has designed and implemented a functional prototype, My Wireless Advocate [1], that includes both successful advice-based features and innovative advocacy-based features such as retro- active pricing strategies and creating your own wireless plans. A preliminary focus group study has shown that consumers are ready for more trust-based business models in the online wireless industry, and that the Qwest project is definitely a step in the right direction. It is clear that once the major trust busters are fixed and the website is completed to a production level, it will be very useful and attractive for consumers, and raise general consumer awareness and trust toward Qwest. Thesis Supervisor: Glen L. Urban Title: David Austin Professor Of Marketing, MIT Sloan School of Management 2 Acknowledgements First, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Professor Glen Urban for his patience, guidance and encouragement throughout this past year. I greatly appreciate the opportunity he gave me to present my work to the Qwest management team at the company headquarters in Denver, Colorado. Next, I thank my team members: Mahesh Kumar and Sanjay Grover from the General Motors project, S. Birgi Martin and Stephen Kao from the Qwest project, and our wonderful administrative assistant Sandra Crawford-Jenkins. I would also like to thank our sponsors and collaborators from industry: Patricia Hawkins and Joyce Salisbury from General Motors Corporation, and Stephen Stokols from Qwest Communications International, Inc. I owe many thanks to my parents for always being there when I need them. And finally, I thank John Kozura for proofreading, and for his invaluable support that made this thesis possible. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ............................................................................................................... 7 Background ................................................................................................................ 9 2 .1 T rust................................................................................................................... 9 2.1.1 Push-Based Marketing ............................................................................ 9 2.1.2 Relationship Marketing.......................................................................... 11 2.1.3 Consumer Advocacy............................................................................... 12 2.2 The Shift Towards Advocacy .................................................................. 15 2.2.1 Trend in Consumer Power ..................................................................... 15 2.2.2 Letting Consumers Convince Themselves............................................. 17 2.2.3 Requirements for an Advocacy Strategy .............................................. 18 2.3 Advocacy in the Wireless Industry....................................................... 19 2.3.1 Increased Competition in the W ireless Industry .................................... 19 2.3.2 In Praise of Honest Pricing ................................................................... 21 2.3.3 Purpose of Qwest Advocacy Research ................................................. 23 Design of a Virtual W ireless Advocate................................................ 27 3.1 Review of Existing Technology................................................................. 27 3.1.1 Current Research at MIT ....................................................................... 28 3.1.2 Existing Wireless Websites................................................................... 31 3.1.3 Room for Improvements ........................................................................... 35 3.2 Design of a Wireless Advocacy Website............................................. 37 3.2.1 Five Phases of the Project ..................................................................... 38 3.2.2 Detailed Design Specification............................................................... 41 3.2.3 Additional Trust Features ..................................................................... 44 Im plem entation of a Functional Prototype...................................... 51 4.1 Implementation Overview ....................................................................... 51 4.1.1 Technology Overview............................................................................ 51 4.1.2 My Wireless Advocate Path Design ..................................................... 53 4.2 Implementation Details by Feature..................................................... 54 4.2.1 Create Your Own Plan .......................................................................... 55 4.2.2 Price Guarantees ................................................................................... 57 4.2.3 Name Your Own Price.......................................................................... 59 4.2.4 New Technologies ................................................................................ 60 4 Focus G roup Study .......................................................................................... 62 5.1 Overview of Study .................................................................................... 62 5.1.1 Focus Group Purpose............................................................................ 62 5.1.2 Methodologies and Tasks ..................................................................... 63 5.2 Focus Group Results............................................................................... 64 5.2.1 Comments by Website .......................................................................... 65 5.2.2 Feature Specific Comments ................................................................... 67 Future Research and Recom m endations.......................................... 70 6.1 Lessons Learned....................................................................................... 70 6.1.1 Website in Development........................................................................ 71 6.1.2 Quality of Content................................................................................. 71 6.1.3 B rand T rust ............................................................................................ 72 6.2 The Next Step ............................................................................................. 73 6.2.1 Polish the Existing Website ................................................................... 73 6.2.2 My Wireless Advocate Enhancements ................................................. 75 6.2.3 Advanced Research............................................................................... 77 Conclusions...............................................................................................................79 References .................................................................................................................. 81 Appendix I: Sample Detailed Features Analyses.........................82 Appendix II: Focus Group Questionnaire and Consent..........83 5 List of Figures Figure 1: The Consumer Advocacy Pyramid ..................................................................... 13 Figure 2: "Ride the Light" Campaign vs. "Spirit of Service" Campaign............................... 23 Figure 3: J.D. Power Wireless Ratings .............................................................................. 24 Figure 4: Rosa Interacting with Customers and Rosa with Voice Enhancements ................... 29 Figure 5: Auto Choice Advisor and ACA with Animated Advisor ...................................... 30 Figure 6: Examples